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CONSTRUCTION. YH. THE PIER BASE, 73 trouble ourselves: all that we need know is, that out of every slice we take from the " S's " and put on at the " a's," we may keep a certain percentage of room and bricks, until, supposing that we do not want the wall veil for its own sake, this latter is thinned entirely away, like the girdle of the Lady of Avenel, and finally breaks, and we have nothing but a row of square piers, d. § iv. But have we yet arrived at the form which will spare most room, and use fewest materials. No ; and to get farther we must apply the general principle to our wall, which is equally true in morals and mathematics, that the strength of materials, or of men, or of minds, is always most available when it is applied as closely as possible to a single point. Let the point to which we wish the strength of our square piers to be applied, be chosen. Then we shall of course put them directly under it, and the point will be in their centre. But now some of their materials are not so near or close to this point as others. Those at the corners are farther off than the rest. Now, if every particle of the pier be brought as near as possible to the centre of it, the form it assumes is the circle. The circle must be, therefore, the best possible form of plan for a pier, from the beginning of time to the end of it. A circular pier is called a pillar or column, and all good architecture adapted to vertical support is made up of pillars, has always been so, and must ever be so, as long as the laws of the universe hold. The final condition is represented at e, in its relation to that at d. It will be observed that though each circle projects a little beyond the side of the square out of which it is formed, the space cut off at the angles is greater than that added at the sides; for, having our materials in a more concentrated arrangement, we can afford to part with some of them in this last transformation, as in all the rest. § v. And now, what have the base and the cornice of the wall been doing while we have been cutting the veil to pieces and gathering it together ?
Title | The stones of Venice - 1 |
Creator | Ruskin, John |
Publisher | J. Wiley |
Place of Publication | New York |
Date | 1889 |
Language | eng |
Type | Books/Pamphlets |
Title | 00000096 |
Type | Books/Pamphlets |
Transcript | CONSTRUCTION. YH. THE PIER BASE, 73 trouble ourselves: all that we need know is, that out of every slice we take from the " S's " and put on at the " a's," we may keep a certain percentage of room and bricks, until, supposing that we do not want the wall veil for its own sake, this latter is thinned entirely away, like the girdle of the Lady of Avenel, and finally breaks, and we have nothing but a row of square piers, d. § iv. But have we yet arrived at the form which will spare most room, and use fewest materials. No ; and to get farther we must apply the general principle to our wall, which is equally true in morals and mathematics, that the strength of materials, or of men, or of minds, is always most available when it is applied as closely as possible to a single point. Let the point to which we wish the strength of our square piers to be applied, be chosen. Then we shall of course put them directly under it, and the point will be in their centre. But now some of their materials are not so near or close to this point as others. Those at the corners are farther off than the rest. Now, if every particle of the pier be brought as near as possible to the centre of it, the form it assumes is the circle. The circle must be, therefore, the best possible form of plan for a pier, from the beginning of time to the end of it. A circular pier is called a pillar or column, and all good architecture adapted to vertical support is made up of pillars, has always been so, and must ever be so, as long as the laws of the universe hold. The final condition is represented at e, in its relation to that at d. It will be observed that though each circle projects a little beyond the side of the square out of which it is formed, the space cut off at the angles is greater than that added at the sides; for, having our materials in a more concentrated arrangement, we can afford to part with some of them in this last transformation, as in all the rest. § v. And now, what have the base and the cornice of the wall been doing while we have been cutting the veil to pieces and gathering it together ? |
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